Posts by Merry Magdalene

but, for those that do attend somewhere, i was curious as to what type of church they chose after leaving the jws and what attracted them to that particular church or religion?

if you were not raised as a jw, did you return to the church you were raised in?

Merry Magdalene

Hi there~

Maybe you can guess...

But there's no masjid (mosque) anywhere near where I live so I don't attend congregational prayer and don't really know what it is like yet to be part of a Muslim community (except for online).

I talk a little bit about how and why and such on MySpace.

I've been a Muslim (one who submits to Allah) for a little over 6 months. Before that I considered myself a Christian and attended a nearby Presbyterian church. Very nice folks! Before that I was a solitary eclectic Witch. Before that I was a 4th generation JW. I like to learn and grow...

~Merry

171

The vote is in: SCIENCE vs RELIGION......who won?

by Terry in

history has demonstrated:.

religion is following orders by implicitly trusting someone or something.. science asks questions.. religion purports to answer questions.. science seeks to disprove its own conclusions.. religion seeks to reinforce its own dogma.. science is error-correction toward adjusting for realities as they unfold.. religion internalizes against reality by mocking up a substitute.. science is the most recent development of the human mind.

technology proves science to be successful in advancing human progress.. religion disdains human progress and waits for the end.

Merry Magdalene

Terry remarked:

The Muslim world fell in love with Aristotle and then turned their collective back on the advancement logical thought could bring to their people. The contrast between Arabs as a people and a nation (and religion) and the logical, scientific world of technology is striking. They are largely a dependant Stone-Age people clinging to Theology and societal backwardness through gritted teeth. They seek through radicals to obliterate the proof of their own failure and backwardness by destroying the symbols of Western Scientific Prowess by blowing things ups (including their own most devout devotees.)

Click on the title in bold for an interesting (and less simplistic and insulting) consideration of The Factors Behind the Decline of Islamic Science.

And a bit more on Medieval Islamic Sciences.

Thanks for triggering another interesting discussion and helping me learn more.

~Merry

17

WOW, WHERE'S THE TIME GONE?

by Dansk in

jw
friends

my profile revealed that it was four years ago today that i joined jwd!

i can hardly believe i've made over 5000 posts and been here for so long!.

well, the truth is you guys have helped me stick around.

Merry Magdalene

{{{{{{{{{{IAN & CLAIRE}}}}}}}}}}

You've made my life richer by being here.

~Merry

12

This is too cute....very happy Jehovah's Witness

by lisavegas420 in

jw
friends

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5pufzqoq_a.

.

lisa.

Merry Magdalene

that was funnyin a unreal witnessy sort of way

13

How many converts are there to different religions?

by bluesapphire in

my mother in law came over and started telling my husband that the jws are in every land except 3 bla bla bla... we knew it was coming.

it was fun that i had told my husband ahead of time what she was going to say next time and it happened.

lol.

Merry Magdalene

This doesn't answer the question either, but is interesting-- http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_prac2.htm

Still searching for conversion stats.

~Merry

44

What reading material would I find in your loo?

by Gregor in

jw
friends

mine- popular mechanics, this old house and maybe a sunset.

Merry Magdalene

A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn.

~Merry

156

Is Atheism/Evolutionism Dangerous? Questions for Unbelievers

by Perry in

does the belief that there is no all-loving diety in which to be accountable to make it easier or harder to treat and judge others they way that you want to be treated and judged?.

since evolution supposes that life and ultimately man who is at the top of the chain got here through a process of the fittest dominating and killing off the weaker, and since most modern evolutionists in democracies no longer think that this is good to practice, how do you deal with the fact that you are a living contradiction of your own belief since you pronounce the same thing both good and bad?

.

Merry Magdalene

Although I haven't read the book, here is an interesting quote from evolutionist Robert Wright in The Moral Animal:

Evolutionary theory, after all, has a long and largely sordid history of application to human affairs. After being mingled with political philosophy around the turn of the century to form the vague ideology known as "social Darwinism," it played into the hands of racists, fascists, and the most heartless sort of capitalists.

Personally, I have known both athiests/unbelievers and religionists/believers whose ideas and decisions based on those ideas made them seem quite dangerous to me, and the reverse is also true. So there ya go.

~Merry

17

Anyone from the Inland Northwest?

by mavie in

jw
friends

from north idaho...looking for others who have left.

Merry Magdalene

Orofino, Lewiston/Clarkston, Kamiah